A Whole is Stronger than the Sum of its Parts
by SlytherinKnight
Summary: We know Harry was a Horcrux but what are the effects of basilisk venom, phoenix tears and repeated Dementor exposures on that tiny sliver of Voldemort's soul? How strong was that piece of soul compared to Harry's full soul? Set during OotP and branching off from there. Rated M for violence, language and safety.


**Disclaimer: _Harry Potter_ is NOT MINE! I am just having some fun in JKR's masterpiece of a world.**

"Dudley! Stop! You're running right at it!" Harry shouted, feeling around blindly for his wand. "Damnit, where are you? **Lumos**, come on, **Lumos!**"

A small spark of light flickered into existence just next to Harry's fingertips. Gasping in relief, Harry snatched up his wand and rolled over, right into the grasp of a hooded Dementor. Harry froze as two skeletal hands grasped the sides of his face, forcing his head back. A horrid rushing sound, much like a drain pulling down murky water, filled Harry's ears as the Dementor's abilities forced Harry's most dreaded memories to the forefront of his mind.

_"No, not Harry! Please spare him, take me instead!"_

_ "Stand aside you silly girl!"_

_ "Go away you freak!"_

_ "How dare you us that freakishness boy!"_

_ A small red-headed boy being struck across the face by the stone arm of a life-size chess queen and falling to the stone floor and lying motionless._

_ A young brown-haired girl laying in a Hospital Wing bed, her features frozen in a mask of fear and pain._

A sharp pain from behind Harry's scar pierced the Dementor-induced fog and a burst of energy surged through Harry's body. The Dementor wailed, a horrid ear piercing, watery wail, and dropped Harry back to the cold pavement.

Harry's mind slowly cleared, though his scar was still throbbing. He shakily raised his wand and in a raspy voice, croaked out, "**Expecto Patronum!**"

A thin silvery plume of smoke spilled from the tip of Harry's wand. The Dementor paused in its approach but only to raise a hand and brush aside Harry's feeble defense like flicking a piece of lint off one's jacket.

Harry began scrambling backward, attempting to recast the Patronus but each attempt was weaker and weaker as the Dementor approached and Harry's scar continued throbbing sapping his concentration.

'_This is it,_' Harry thought fearfully. '_I'm about to get my soul sucked out. I'll never see Sirius, Moony, the Weasleys, Hermione again._' Suddenly their faces burst into the forefront of his mind.

"**Expecto Patronum!**" Harry shouted. A brilliant white animal burst from Harry's wand. It smashed into the Dementor, sending it flying down the tunnel of the underpass. Harry scrambled to his feet, watching as his Patronus tear into the Dementor. The wraith threw its head back and screamed, a scream that chilled to the bone. The whimpering of someone brought Harry back to the present, and he whirled around to see a second Dementor floating above Dudley, prying apart his hands almost lovingly, its hood was already lowered in preparation to administering its Kiss to the young teen.

"Get it!" Harry snarled. In a whoosh of air, Harry's Patronus surged past Harry and pounced on the other Dementor, knocking it away from Dudley. The wraith wailed, then turned and vanished into the night. The Patronus searched around for another target before turning to face Harry. Harry watched stunned as the ethereal animal bowed its head to him before fading away.

Suddenly the clanking of metal cans caused Harry to whirl around, his wand coming about to bear on a new target.

"Put that away boy," the scratchy breathless voice of Mrs. Figg came from the end of the underpass. "We don't want anyone to see."

"Mrs. Figg!" Harry cried in amazement, his hand reaching behind him to stow his wand back in his pants pocket.

"No time for questions Harry," Mrs. Figg snapped. "We need to get you back to the house. I'm going to kill Mundungus Fletcher!"

"Who?" Harry asked, still frozen in shock at the appearance of his batty old neighbor.

"Never mind that Harry," Mrs. Figg snapped again. "Get that fat lug on his feet, we need to get you both back to Privet Drive. There's no telling what might still be out there. And someone will have to tell Dumbledore about this, I'm going to kill Mundungus Fletcher!"

POP!

Harry and Mrs. Figg spun around at the sharp crack. Harry's nose wrinkled at the overwhelming pungent odor of stale whiskey and tobacco smoke. For a moment, Harry thought that the figure in front of him was nothing more than an enchanted pile of rags that had gained eyes.

"Was 'up Figgy?" Mundungus Fletcher asked in a slight slur. "What happened to staying undercover?"

"Dementors you fool!" Mrs. Figg screamed.

"What!"

"Two Dementors attacked Harry while on your watch," Mrs. Figg kept on, swinging her plastic bag laden with cat food cans at Mundungus. "Where were you? You were supposed to be on guard duty, where you off buying dodgy cauldrons again?"

Through the haze of confusion and pain, Harry caught the words 'guard duty' and 'your watch'. "What the bloody hell is going on?" Harry shouted.

"Harry, there isn't the time," Mrs. Figg said. "Someone has to tell Dumbledore, and since you are finally here. You Fletcher, can tell him about this and why you abandoned your post!"

"Alright, alright," Fletcher said, covering his head from Mrs. Figg's bag. "Keep your hairnet on, I'm going, I'm going!" He vanished with another sharp CRACK, leaving Harry supporting an unresponsive Dudley, and a heavily breathing Mrs. Figg.

"Come on Harry, we need to get off the streets," Mrs. Figg ordered, shuffling off down the street. "The Ministry will know of your use of magic, they have ways of detecting magic, and you can be sure that they be sending you a letter."

"Why? I was defending myself from the Dementors," Harry argued. "Surely they would be more worried about the fact that Dementors were in Little Whinging and not in Azkaban."

Mrs. Figg gave a hollow laugh. "Harry, I'm afraid that won't be the case," she said solemnly. "Surely you've been reading the Prophet?"

"Well, not cover to cover, just the front page or so," Harry admitted with a small blush. "I mean Voldemort's return will be front page news."

"Dear me boy, they told me that you were intelligent," Mrs. Figg moaned. "Harry, the Ministry is denying You-Know-Who's return."

"What! Why?"

"Come now boy, surely you aren't that dense!" Mrs. Figg cried. "Think? Do you really think that Fudge and the Ministry would accept just word of an underage wizard, even the Boy-Who-Lived?"

"But Dumbledore…"

"Albus has tried but Fudge moved to have him removed from his positions and has succeeded in ousting Albus from all of them aside from Headmaster," Mrs. Figg explained. "They say that Dumbledore is losing his touch, believing that someone can come back from the dead."

Harry nearly fell to the pavement in shock that Fudge would be so obtuse to deny such a claim.

"Look Harry, get inside and stay there," Mrs. Figg ordered as the trio reached the path of Number Four. "Someone will be in touch with you very soon I reckon, and also read the Prophet, all the way through now. You might learn something."

Harry opened his mouth to ask another question but Mrs. Figg had already moved away from the garden path, ambling off down the street. Wincing as another vicious throb emanated from his scar, Harry heaved Dudley to a better position and pretty much dragged the oversized teen up the garden path. Harry saw a figure approaching the front door from inside the house as he neared the door. The door was flung open and the stark artificial light spilled over the pair of teens, then Aunt Petunia's figure appeared in the doorway.

"Dudley!" she cried taking in the appearance of her son. Harry glanced at his cousin and quickly ducked away. Not a moment too soon as Dudley swayed on the doorstep before vomiting all over the doormat and his shoes.

"Vernon, Vernon, come quick Dudley's been ill," Petunia screamed reaching out gingerly to avoid stepping in Dudley's sick and pulled the pale and shivering boy across the threshold of the house. Harry slipped inside just before Petunia slammed the door shut.

He had nearly made it to the stairs when he heard Dudley utter a single word, "Him." Cringing, Harry turned to see Uncle Vernon glaring at him, hate shining in the man's little piggish eyes.

"Get down here boy," he snarled.

Harry took a deep breath, hiding another wince as his scar throbbed again and slowly walked into the sitting room where Vernon and Petunia were bracketing their son, who was hunched over in a chair with a wastebin in his lap.

"What did you do to my son?" Vernon snarled, a vein throbbing frantically on the man's forehead.

"I saved his life," Harry snarled back, he was too drained to argue with Vernon and the pulsing in his scar was not helping matters.

Vernon's face grew slack for a moment. Whatever answer he expected it wasn't that. Vernon quickly regained his composure though. "Bollocks!" he snapped. "You used your…your thing didn't you? That's it, you used your freakishness on my son!"

Harry breathed sharply through his nose in an effort to calm himself but it was a futile effort. "Look you want to know the truth…" but before Harry could say another word an owl swooped in through the open kitchen window. Harry's heart dropped as he recognized the writing and seal on the tan envelope. The letter shook itself and rose into the air in front of Harry.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_ The Ministry of Magic has received intelligence that you performed the Patronus Charm at twenty-two minutes past nine this evening in a Muggle-neighborhood and in close proximity to a Muggle. As you have previously received a warning for using magic outside of school and underage, you are hereby expelled from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Ministry officials will be calling upon your place of residence to destroy your wand._

_ In addition, you are required to attend a disciplinary hearing at nine in the morning on the 12__th__ of August where further actions may be decided._

_ Have a pleasant summer,_

Mafalda Hopkirk

_Improper Use of Magic Office_

_ Ministry of Magic_

Harry couldn't move. The sounds of the Ministry letter tearing itself to pieces was drowned out by a rushing sound filled his ears. It was all over, he had been expelled from Hogwarts, he was never going back.

Numbly, Harry noticed that Uncle Vernon's face had turned a gleeful shade of pink. "Justice," Vernon sneered. "So boy, you say you didn't use your freakishness on Dudley, well you are a horrid little liar aren't you?"

Harry's wand snapped up to point directly between Vernon's eyes, a bluish-green glow growing at its tip.

"You can't use m…m…magic ouside of school!" Vernon stammered. "You'll be…"

"I've already been expelled you twit," Harry snarled. "So that means I can do whatever I want too you. And you know what, if I decided to turn you all into animals you'd deserve it."

"Deserve it?" Petunia snapped.

"Yes deserve it," Harry shot back. "You call me a freak, and pride yourself on being normal but is it normal to force a child to sleep in a cupboard for seven years? Is it normal to put bars on a child's window and install a cat flap in that child's door to limit the child's food? What about allowing their son to beat up that child for no reason? Is that normal?"

"We took you in when we could have easily dumped you in an orphanage!" Petunia shouted, jumping to her feet.

"It would have been better than here!" Harry shot back.

"Then get the hell out!" Vernon roared. "We didn't want you here! You were forced on us!"

"Well fine then I'll leave!" Harry shouted.

Suddenly a second owl swooped into the kitchen dropping a letter at the feet of the Dursleys. The Dursleys and Harry looked down at the letter, the blood red letter that began smoking.

"That's a Howler," Harry said. "Who is it to?"

The letter leapt into the air and a booming and terrible voice filled the house. "REMEMBER MY LAST, PETUNIA!" The voice's declaration seemed to hang about in the kitchen even after the Howler had burst into flames and had become a smoldering pile of ash.

Petunia's face resembled her son's in paleness and pallid features. Harry's gaze slowly moved from the disintegrated Howler to his aunt.

"Petunia dear, what was that?" Vernon asked his wife.

Petunia swallowed thickly. "Harry, you will go up to your room now!" she said, her voice starting off faint but gaining strength with each word. "You will remain in the house. Now go!"

"What!" Harry cried. "Who was that Howler from? What the hell was that message from?"

"You heard me Harry, now go!" Petunia snapped.

"But Petunia…"

"We can't send him away Vernon, the neighbors will talk about it," Petunia told her husband. "What are you still doing here, your room now!"

Harry tried to speak but another stab of pain coming from his scar robbed him of his ability to speak.

"Move boy!" Vernon shouted.

Harry blindly made his way from the kitchen and up to his bedroom. With each step, the pain in his scar stronger and stronger, one particularly strong pulse nearly brought Harry to his knees. Pushing open his bedroom door, Harry barely saw Hedwig perched on the windowsill along with two other owls. An official looking letter lay on his pillow.

"Argh!" Harry cried, clutching his head. Taking his hands away, Harry saw blood on them before his vision swam and turned dark. The young man collapsed onto his bed much like a puppet's strings being cut.

* * *

"Ugh, what happened?" Harry groaned as he came to. "Where am I?" he muttered as he realized that he was no longer in his bedroom at Privet Drive.

The room, well what Harry thought was a room, was purely white and seemed to stretch on forever. Slowly Harry got to his feet and looked around.

"Potter," a raspy voice hissed from behind Harry.

Harry spun around and recoiled from a disgusting looking mass of writing limbs.

"You see what I have been reduced too Potter," the thing sneered.

"What the hell is going on? Where am I? What the hell are you?" Harry shouted.

"You know who I am Potter," the thing sneered. "Don't you remember, '_Unless I am much mistaken, he transferred some of his own powers to you the night he gave you that scar. Not something he intended to do, I am sure…_' recognize me now?"

The words triggered a memory, one of which Harry was standing in the Headmaster's office, speaking with Dumbledore just after returning from the Chamber of Secrets.

"Voldemort!" Harry cried. "You're a piece of Voldemort!"

"Correct boy," the thing that was Voldemort spat. "It certainly took you long enough to realize it."

"How are you in my head?"

"As Dumbledore put it, a piece of my soul attached itself to you that night," Voldemort snarled.

"You mean, I had a piece of your soul in me all these years," Harry gaped. Voldemort nodded. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"Pathetic Potter," Voldemort snarled. "How I haven't managed to kill you yet is in of itself pathetic."

"Wait, if you are a piece of Voldemort's soul, then why haven't you tried to control me? Like Ginny and your diary?"

"If I could control you, we wouldn't be having this conversation Potter," Voldemort sneered. "The piece of my soul is too weak. If it hadn't been for your Mudblood bitch of a mother, I might have succeeded in crushing your infant soul years ago. The protection that she invoked surrounded me and held me back, slowly sapping my power. The fact that you have both basilisk venom and phoenix tears in your blood has weakened me further."

"So what now?"

"I wasn't finished Potter," Voldemort snarled. "This Dementor attack has jarred me loose from my prison but it is too late."

"Too late? What do you mean?"

"The combination of the basilisk venom, phoenix tears, your stupidity in getting too close to Dementors and your own soul's strength, has sapped too much of my strength," Voldemort snarled.

"What does that mean?" Harry asked hesitantly, afraid of the answer.

"I don't honestly know," Voldemort admitted. "No one has ever had a Horcrux in a living being before."

"Horcrux?" Harry asked. "That's what you are called, a Horcrux?"

"No," Voldemort said. "You are the Horcrux Potter. A Horcrux is the container of the piece of soul. And Dumbledore knew," Voldemort added on in an undertone.

"What?" Harry shouted. A sneer twisted Voldemort's already deformed face.

"Oh yes, your precious Headmaster has been keeping secrets from you," he chuckled. "He all but admitted it to you two years ago in his office. And he was planning on leading you by your nose until you would walk to your death."

"No!"

"Oh yes," Voldemort cackled. "Why wouldn't Dumbledore tell you? Surely the greatest Light wizard since Merlin could find a way to remove me from you. But he never told you anything did he? He never told you anything about anything."

"You are lying," Harry accused.

"Why would I do that? I am already 'dying', so what have I got to lose?" Voldemort said.

"You are trying to make me lose trust in Dumbledore," Harry shot back.

"Perhaps but what has Dumbledore done to earn such unwavering trust?" Voldemort asked. "He abandoned you here, alone. He seemingly can't get your godfather a trial even though he has more power than Fudge ever will. He put a guard over you, yet they don't stop those Muggles from treating you so? So what has the great Dumbledore done to deserve such unwavering loyalty?"

Harry's mouth opened to refute Voldemort's claims but found that he couldn't.

"You are all alone Potter," Voldemort sneered. "Your parents left you, your godfather choose revenge over you, your 'uncle' abandoned you, even your so-called best friends would rather listen to Dumbledore than write to you."

With each true declaration, Harry fell deeper and deeper into his own mind. Was Voldemort really telling the truth, was he really alone in the world? The only people related to him hated him; his godfather went after the rat instead of caring for him. His parents' other best friend vanished off the face of the earth, and even after showing up to teach third year, vanishes once again. And his so-called friends are off somewhere together, with Sirius as well, without him, having a grand ole time. He was truly alone.

"So I am alone," Harry admitted. "So what? Every time I've beaten you, its been by myself, I don't need anyone else."

The white room shuddered. Harry looked up to see Voldemort's body begin to dissolve into nothingness. "Well Potter, it seems that you have won this round," he said. "Next time we meet, you won't be so lucky. And for Merlin's sake, magic is not light or dark, it is only magic!"

The fragment of Voldemort's soul vanished and a brilliant burst of white light blinded Harry and the world went black.

* * *

PREK!

"All right Hedwig, I'm up, I'm up," Harry groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. Blinking rapidly, Harry slowly sat up. '_What the?_' Harry thought as he waved his hand in front of him. Slowly Harry took his glasses off and his bedroom come into a sharper focus, though he still couldn't see perfectly.

PREK!

Harry jumped slightly and turned toward the window and blinked. Hedwig was sitting on her perch with two other owls sitting next to her and on his desk laid three letters. Harry slowly got off his bed and crossed his room to his desk. The first letter, Harry noticed, was another Ministry letter. His hand shaking, Harry gingerly picked up the letter and opened it.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_ Further to our letter of approximately twenty-two minutes ago, the Ministry of Magic has revised its decision to destroy your wand forthwith. You may retain your wand until your disciplinary hearing on 12__th__ August, at which time an official decision will be taken._

_ Following discussion with the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the Ministry has agreed that the question of your explusion will also be decided at that time. You should therefore consider yourself suspended from school pending further inquiries. _

_ With best wishes,_

_ Yours sincerely,_

_Mafalda Hopkirk_

_Improper Use of Magic Office_

_ Ministry of Magic_

Harry felt a weight leave his shoulders at the fact that he was no longer expelled from Hogwarts and under immediate threat of having his wand being destroyed. However the fact that he had to attend a hearing tampered that feeling. Setting aside the Ministry letter, Harry picked up a letter that had his name written on it in a very familiar scribble.

Ripping open the letter from Sirius, Harry's eyes darted across the letter, a fierce scowl twisting his mouth. He snarled and tossed the letter aside and turned to the other letter. Harry didn't recognize the handwriting but opened the letter and his eyes narrowed. The letter was from Ron's father, Arthur Weasley.

Harry,

Dumbledore has just told us what happened. He's speaking with the Ministry right now. You mustn't leave the house and don't use anymore magic. Don't surrender your wand!

Arthur Weasley

'_Of course,_' Harry thought savagely. '_No job well done Harry. No congratulations for fending off two Dementors and saving my cousin. No, they say it's my fault. And no word on when the hell I'm getting out of here. No, they say it's my fault. And no words on when the hell, I'm getting out of here!'_

In the back of his mind, a little voice whispered, "Voldemort's right. You are all alone, and you will always be alone."

Shaking his head, Harry sat down at his desk and pulled out three scarps of parchment. He quickly scribbled out letters to Ron, Hermione and Sirius, all with one question: When the hell am I getting out of here?

"Here Hedwig," Harry said sharply. "Take these to Hermione, Ron and Sirius, and don't let them try to get out of writing good long replies. Do whatever it takes!"

Hedwig hooted and took flight out the open window. Harry leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. The voice in his head returned. "How could the Dementors reach me here if there are these powerful wards protecting him here?"

Harry sat up and pulled another piece of parchment from his drawer. Grabbing a quill, Harry scribbled out a title at the top of the parchment, 'Questions that need Answering.'

1. Why after Halloween 1981, was I left at the Dursleys? Surely, there were other options, my parents must have had other friends than the Marauders, couldn't they have taken me?

2. If there are these powerful wards protecting Privet Drive, why do I have guards? Are they to help protect or keep me here?

3. Why did Dumbledore bring the Stone to Hogwarts? It's a school from Merlin's sake! And he then told all the students where it was!

4. Why wasn't done more in 2nd year? The Ministry only acted when a pureblood, Penelope Clearwater, was attacked. And the school was 'closed' when Ginny was taken to the Chamber, why not before?

5. Why were Dementors stationed around Hogwarts when Sirius escaped? Why not Aurors? Dementors are monsters, did Fudge really think that they would listen to instructions?

6. Why wasn't Sirius given a trial? All the other Death Eaters got off, or at least were given a trial? Even the Lestranges were given trials!

7. Why hadn't Moony written him at all? Especially after third year, Sirius did and he was on the run, but Moony didn't?

8. What were the protections around the Goblet of Fire? Dumbledore said that there was an Age Line, and it did stop Fred and George but was that it? Why wasn't there something to stop anyone older than students from stepping across the line?

9. Why hadn't Dumbledore told the school that Harry had been entered into the Tournament without his consent? It would have made more people believe me and make last year more bearable.

10. How was Moody (Crouch Jr.) able to make the Cup into a Portkey?

11. How far do the so-called wards extend around Privet Drive if Dementors were able to find him? And who sent them: Voldemort or someone else? And who knows where I live that would be able to send them after me?

Harry set the quill down and looked over the list of questions that he had written down. There were dozens of others questions that cluttered Harry's mind that stemmed from the scant few that he had written down. But a fire burned strongly in Harry's stomach, fueled by determination, he would get answers for these questions, no matter what.

**A/N: Hi all, Welcome to my newest story, 'Harry Absorbs the Horcrux'. I know that quite a few people have used this prompt to start their own stories and I'm throwing my hat into that group but I'm going to try and branch out and change from my normal storyline. This story is going to be second fiddle to '_Two Sides_' for the time being but I might add to it sparingly. Hopefully you all like so let me know. Til next time,**

**S.R.W.M.O**


End file.
